We admired the blue lupine and talked in hushed voices as we watched a gopher popping his head in-and-out of a hole a few feet away.

We communed with lighthouse keepers of the past through their words and artifacts.

It was a wonderful moment to be a seal or a human acting like a seal or a human acting like a human.

Drakes Beach is a sheltered bay used by elephant seals for pupping every year.

Everywhere great snarls of bullwhip kelp were washed ashore like art objects from the Creator.

You know what I love about surfers? They're cool! You know what makes them cool? They march to the beat of a different drummer: the sea.

Along the way, we stopped to pick up bits of trash and discovered some golden mushrooms growing in the cow patties. These must be magical mushrooms!

Who was screeching? I turned and squinted; amid the architectural treetops of eucalyptus and cypress, a vulture stood in silhouette against the grey sky.

I heard three chuffy sniffs and he dropped out of sight. A moment later, his head popped-up.

It is a strangely beautiful spot. The eucalyptus are huge and out-of-place as non-natives. Seasonal miner's lettuce intermingles with lush and deadly hemlock.

Going to get fresh oysters for backyard barbecues is one of the distinctive pleasures of living in Point Reyes.

Douglas Iris popped-up along the road. A plum tree was beginning to flower.

It is wonderful to emerge from the shadowy green of the forest onto the sun-drenched, elegant beige and blue of the beach.

Sapsuckers worked busily in a forested sanctuary.

Low tide exposes a whole world of underwater creatures.

This process of naturalization is aided by an exotic species of taggers who survive partially on canned beer drunk out of paper bags.

I walked over the cattle gate and the girls started to rush me. These seemed like teenage cows, all full of curiosity and energy and, thankfully, not too big.

A beautiful scene until my little meerkat started to scoot over the precipice toward the water.

Going north along the beach I made a discovery: a waterfall. A stream was spilling over the granite cliff down onto the beach.

I ponder the elk and the cows, pick-up trash and swoon under the influence of nature's beauty.